By the time I got to eighth grade I decided that the whole...

By the time I got to eighth grade I decided that the whole Christianity thing wasnt working for mecall it my pacifistic adaptation of the usual angst-ridden teen rebellion. Essentially, I figured that I had been raised a Christian all my life and thus, in a sense, I had been indoctrinated into Christianity. So, I decided to try something elsesome other way of viewing life. In summary, I tried many religions and each one lasted about one year.

I was metaphorically caught in the eternal interplay of the spiritual tennis court of life. Most recently, I was Buddhist, and contrary to what most people believe, Buddhists do not worship the Buddhain fact they have no god. Well, technically the Buddha never said you couldnt believe in a god he just said it wasnt required to attain enlightenment. Well, rather than go off on a tangent I will ask the reader to keep the last point in mind.

What basically happened was that I started considering the existence of God. After all, it made logical sense to me, though rather than discuss that now, Ill save it for a later time. Anyway, as I considered God I began to consider Islam because I had always had an incipient interest in Islam. I remember watching a video at school on world religions and I remember being so intrigued by the movements in the prayer, especially sujoodit was beautiful.

I remember fighting that feeling inside of myself trying to convince myself that I was happy with the belief system I had. I remember looking at my compass, finding the direction of Mecca, and going through the little parts of the prayer movements that I knew always thinking, If I were Muslim, this is what Id do to pray. I remember sounding out the shahada italicised in my world religions book thinking, This would be what Id say to become a Muslim.

I couldnt explain why, but I was drawn to Islam and at the same time I fought that feeling because of fear. After September 11 th , my interest was resurrected and with the money I saved I purchased The Complete Idiots Guide to Understanding Islam by Yahiya J. Emerick. The book was amazing as it outlined everything in a comprehensive manner and made me realize that there were many misconceptions about Islam. Later, I purchased The Meaning of the Holy Quran by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.

All this time, my interest in Islam grew and I was drawn even closer to it. Eventually, I called the 1877-WHY ISLAM information line, which I had called many times before.